Trump’s order won’t halt California’s offshore wind leases. But will it derail the industry?
Many community groups in Morro Bay oppose offshore wind projects. Deep ocean waters off Morro Bay and Humboldt County are leased to energy companies for massive wind farms.
Posted on January 27, 2025
In summary
The president’s order has no immediate effect on offshore wind leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. But it sends a current of uncertainty through the fledgling renewable energy industry, which relies on federal and state support.
President Donald Trump’s ban on new offshore wind leases won’t halt giant wind farms already planned off California’s coast, but industry officials say the policy shift is a blow to a renewable energy industry still working to gain a foothold.
Environmentalists say the moratorium amounts to “kneecapping” California’s offshore wind projects and puts an important source of clean energy in “mortal peril.” The Biden administration had promoted offshore wind as critical to providing cleaner power and reducing climate-warming greenhouse gases.
“I hereby withdraw from disposition for wind energy leasing all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf,” which encompasses all federal waters off the United States, Trump wrote in an order on Monday. He said it was effective immediately and temporarily prevents “any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind.”
The order has no immediate effect on leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. Trump wrote that “nothing in this” order “affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.”
There are four offshore wind power projects currently producing electricity in the U.S., and four in various stages of construction. Three of the four projects in service are complete and one, Vineyard Wind, is nearing completion. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, meanwhile, has halted work on one of the four projects under construction – Danish… Read More
New England, long burdened with some of the nation’s highest electricity costs, is facing a growing energy crisis. Winter cold snaps routinely send utility bills soaring in a region where natural gas fuels most of the grid. Offshore wind was seen as the answer — a long-promised relief for the densely populated, power-hungry states. Instead,… Read More
We have set a record at the Fengmiao offshore wind farm in Taiwan, installing two Horizontal Directional Drillings (HDDs) of approximately 1,750 metres each – the longest ever in Taiwan offshore wind industry and in our company’s history. These HDDs are essentially two underground cable tunnels that allow us to bring the wind farm’s export… Read More
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DELMARVA– The Trump Administration has officially filed a legal request asking a federal court to vacate a permit approved under the Biden Administration for US Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm near Delmarva. The action was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, where the case is assigned to Judge Stephanie… Read More